Six Vying For 3 Seats On Phillipsburg School Board

February 22, 1985|by LAURI RICE, The Morning Call

Six people are vying for three three-year terms available on the Phillipsburg Board of Education in April, including three incumbents, a former board member, and two first-time candidates for the board.

Wilson said he received other nominating petitions from former board member Louis Klass, who lost his seat in last year's election, and Carol A. Sandt and William A. Duffy, newcomers in the school board race.

Sandt, 45, of 144 Summit Ave., is an active member of Pilgrim Presbyterian Church, Phillipsburg, where she served as a deacon and elder, taught Sunday school for 28 years and was a member of the choir. She was a leader of the church's youth group for six years, through which she had the opportunity to serve as a youth camp counselor.

Sandt says she feels her experience with the church, as well as her interest in thewelfare of children, qualifies her as a candidate for the board. A life-long resident of Phillipsburg, Sandt says she's running for the board because, "I'd like to see some things changed if it's possible. I have no grand ideas. I just think it's time to do my part."

A resident of Phillipsburg for nearly three years, Duffy, 29, of 386 Bates St., said his desire to become active in the community and to become informed of the operations of the school system prompted him to run for the board.

Duffy, who is employed in the information service department of J.T. Baker Chemical Co., Phillipsburg, said he feels "there is a need for better communication between the school board and the community itself." He said his seven years of business experience in data processing and other business- oriented activities which dealt with compiling budgets qualify him for a position on the board.

A Warren County Republican committeeman for the Phillipsburg area for nearly two years, Duffy received a bachelor's degree in business from Moravian College.

Molnar, 48, of 481 Barrymore St., is completing her sixth year on the board. As a mother and a former teacher, she said she can view the board's actions from three different perspectives: parent, teacher and member of the community.

An active member of Grace Lutheran Church, Phillipsburg, where her husband, the Rev. Joseph Molnar III, serves as pastor, she says she is interested in serving the community and the children. "I'd like to think my experience during the past six years makes me something of an asset," she said.

"I do feel the school board has become an interesting and enjoyable experience," said the former Girl Scout leader and former president of the Friends of the Phillipsburg Free Public Library, who serves as the board's representative on the Warren County School Board and as chairman of the Warren County Audio Visual Aids Committee.

Zarbatany, 40, of 317 Irwin St., is completing his first three-year term with the board. A sales manager at A.I. Rosenthal, Inc., Warminster, Bucks County, he said he is seeking re-election, "Because I enjoy living in Phillipsburg, and I think the board so far has done an excellent job in the town." He cited the conditions of the buildings and grounds which have "greatly improved."

"We have all this with just about a zero tax increase," Zarbatany said.

He said he feels it takes a board member a whole term before he achieves a working knowledge of the board's operations. "I feel I'm qualified for another term, and I enjoy being a member of the board."

Hardick, 40, of 120 Rose St., who is self-employed, said his interest in children and his experience with the board qualify him to seek re-election.

"I feel I'm very interested in some things the board is involved with that I'd like to see finished," said Hardick, citing the development of a unified curriculum program so that "all children in the town are working on the same type of curriculum."

He said he'd also like to see the board's role in publicity enlarged by "keeping in touch with the press, keeping in touch with the general public and the parents." He said the talents of students in special school clubs could be utilized to do this. As an example, he said students in the camera club could put on slide programs on special projects for parents, the press and the general public, to make them aware of school activities.

"There's a lot going on in the school people don't know about," said Hardick.

Louis Klass has an unlisted telephone number and could not be reached for comment.

The annual school election will take place 1-9 p.m. April 2, when the candidatesand the district's proposed $12.9-million budget for the 1985-86 school year will be voted on.